Sheldon Whitehouse

The Senate on Thursday approved former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to head the Environmental Protection Agency by a vote of 52 to 47, elevating a veteran of Washington political and industry circles who has advanced President Donald Trump's push to roll back Obama-era environmental regulations.

Wheeler, who began his career at the EPA during the 1990s and spent years on Capitol Hill before heading to the private sector, has elicited praise from Republicans for his deregulatory agenda and criticism from Democrats for his refusal to take action on climate change and several public health priorities. He has been running the agency since Trump's first administrator, Scott Pruitt,...

Related "Sheldon Whitehouse" Articles

The Senate on Thursday approved former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to head the Environmental Protection Agency by a vote of 52 to 47, elevating a veteran of Washington political and industry circles who has advanced President Donald Trump's push to...

Five Democratic U.S. senators are urging Walgreens to eliminate tobacco products from its stores after federal regulators criticized the chain for selling tobacco to children.
Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Richard...

President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, William Barr, says Vice President Mike Pence is among the officials with whom he has discussed the special counsel's Russia investigation.
Barr said in written responses to Senate questions made...

The federal government on Friday released a long-awaited report with an unmistakable message: The effects of climate change, including deadly wildfires, increasingly debilitating hurricanes and heat waves, are already battering the United States, and...

The bitter Senate fight to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court plunged into deeper chaos Thursday as a top Democrat disclosed she had referred "information" about President Donald Trump's nominee to the FBI.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,...

Warren Beatty has been announced as a pallbearer at Sen. John McCain's memorial service set to take place Saturday morning at Washington National Cathedral, a week after the senator's death. The veteran actor will join several politicians and...

As a drug and alcohol counselor and the mother of two young boys, Judy Herschel never considered running for political office. That was before Congress approved legislation in 2016 that hampered the Drug Enforcement Administration's enforcement efforts...

The security chief for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency worked on the side as a private investigator for the owner of a tabloid news company with close ties to President Donald Trump.
EPA special agent Pasquale "Nino" Perrotta performed...

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt's concern with his safety came at a steep cost to taxpayers as his swollen security detail blew through overtime budgets and at times diverted officers away from investigating environmental crimes.
...

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt's concern with his safety came at a steep cost to taxpayers as his swollen security detail blew through overtime budgets and at times diverted officers away from investigating environmental crimes.
...

President Donald Trump called his embattled environmental chief Monday to assure him his job is safe amid mounting scrutiny of Scott Pruitt's travel, hiring practices and an unorthodox condo rental arrangement last year, according to two administration...

Two senior Senate Democrats asked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Tuesday to provide details about how a business associate of the head of his security detail got a security contract with the agency.
Pasquale "Nino"...

The White House has withdrawn its controversial nominee to head the Council on Environmental Quality, Kathleen Hartnett White, whose selection a year ago had failed to gather momentum with some Senate Republicans raising questions about her expertise.
...

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a 2016 interview that "Donald Trump in the White House would be more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama," according to an audio recording released Tuesday by an advocacy...

The Environmental Protection Agency is canceling a $120,000 "media tracking" contract it recently signed with a Republican public affairs and opposition-research firm amid questions about the firm's political work and outrage from lawmakers on Capitol...

Matthew Petersen, a nominee to the federal judiciary, has withdrawn from consideration days after a video clip showed him unable to answer basic questions about legal procedure, the White House confirmed Monday.
Petersen, nominated for a seat on the...

In April 2016, at the height of the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history, Congress effectively stripped the Drug Enforcement Administration of its most potent weapon against large drug companies suspected of spilling prescription narcotics onto the...

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has taken at least four noncommercial and military flights since mid-February, costing taxpayers more than $58,000 to fly him to various parts of the country, according to records provided to a congressional oversight committee and obtained...